Political Parties

We spoke with three election experts – Dr. David Barker at American University, Dr. Danny Hayes at George Washington University, and Dr. Candice Nelson at American University – to get their perspective on what to expect in November.

Media pluralism has suffered another major blow in Hungary. Magyar Nemzet, a newspaper that represented a brand of conservatism that was still able to critically evaluate the governing of Viktor Orbán, was shut down following the Prime Minister’s most recent election victory.

According to a recently surfaced voice recording, Hungary's House Speaker László Kövér admitted during a private discussion that Fidesz manipulatively redrew the borders of single-member constituencies for its own benefit.

By Attila Juhász, Róbert László

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Dossiers

Our dossier on Hungary is as a forum for critical voices since the right-wing government came to power in April 2010. The contributions reflect the socio-political changes as well as long-term developments.

On 8 November 2015, a new Parliament will be elected after decades of military rule in Myanmar. The elections will decide how the reform process of the past five years will be continued. This dossier will accompany the next months until a new government is formed by offering policy and economic analysis.

On October 19th, Canada will hold its federal elections-what is at stake in these elections, and where is Canada headed? In this dossier, we shed light on some of the main policy debates and developments.

Publications

The conflicts, social and political turmoils we have witnessed in the western Balkans in the last three decades were, in the minds of many leaders and participants, centred around collective identities whose differences allegedly could not be settled in a nonviolent way. And still, more then 20 years after the wars, patriarchal, homophobic and exclusive tendencies are dominating in the region, shaping a climate of intolerance, of exclusion, of the radical negation of all things humane and rational.

The international community, especially the EU and its member states, seems clumsy and even over-burdened in light of the recklessly proceeding patronage networks in the Balkans: The approach of local ownership which has been propagated for a long while is dangerously ignoring the real balance of power in those countries. How could citizens deal with very diffuse networks, if there are no intact correctives, no free, no independent justice?

The Alliance 90/The Greens Party has succeeded in taking over governmental responsibility in the majority of the 16 federal states. In this study the political scientist, Arne Jungjohann, has analysed Green government participation of previous years.

More Articles

In April 2018 a general election will be held in Hungary. But liberal democracy in Hungary is undermined in such a way that the 2018 general election cannot be called either free or fair. Here are the reasons why.

Thirty years after the Velvet Revolution, the atmosphere in Czech society is poisonous. Many who followed the course of the Czech presidential elections during the past few weeks in detail must feel they are trapped in a nightmare.

The power shift in Zimbabwe was a military coup, says Brain Raftopoulos. To prevent the consolidation of a new authoritarian state, the international community has to be careful not to prioritise stability over democratisation.

The political activist, Márton Gulyás, calls for a reform of the Hungarian electoral law. The government has declared him a national security risk. In this interview he talks about his reform ideas and why a movement of civil disobedience is the only option.

The Zimbabwean military has apparently ended President Mugabes longlasting regime. Although unparalleled, the coup appears to pre-empt imminent threats to military interests, says political analyst and researcher McDonald Lewanika.

Political Parties

How successful are government policies within Germany and Europe? What political changes are emerging in the age of the internet? Will political parties be able to adapt to new challenges? And how can we achieve a democratic Europe?

A shrinking membership base along with a loss of confidence have hit the major political parties harder than their smaller competitors. Today, political parties have to undergo programmatic and structural reforms and offer new forms of participation in order to attract extra-parliamentary political actors. Otherwise they will no longer be able to mediate between society and its institutions. Furthermore, politics is increasingly defined by the European Union. Our projects aim to probe institutions, governments, and political parties regarding their potentials for conflict as well as their perspectives for democratic development.